Giant Killing is like Slam Dunk meets football (or soccer to Americans) from the Manager's point of view; a former local superstar who is scouted and transferred to a European club comes back as a coach to the team where he reached the height of his fame as a player.

The series has everything you'd want from a sports manga: relentless action, budding bromance, character development/growth, and best of all, this is one of the rare sports mangas where characters don't rely on gimmicks to excel in the sport. (see: Prince of Tennis)

The plot and the characters are very well crafted; the author also did a very good job of depicting even the supporters of each J1 team that appears -- the character relationships in this manga is very rich, owing to the fact that the story revolves around the manager: you see interaction between manager manager, manager player, and even manager national team manager.

Overall, an awesome attention to detail and clever discussions of football tactics (along with lovable characters, plot, and other genetic manga stuff) makes this series a surprisingly enjoyable read for all of you football maniacs who've logged in countless hours in Football Manager 98!

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Giant killing is an actual soccer manga, unlike most of the bullshit soccer mangas such as captain tsubasa or inazuma eleven. Instead of focusing on just one player who is so awesome that he will make his club win champions league (pun intended), it focuses on each player on and off the bench, the managers, the fans and most importantly, the coach. It really shines in story and character development, and there are some moments which can make you sad, even cry. For any true soccer and manga fan, this is a must read, no other manga in this genre even comes close.